You had a pocket full of horses...

Is UW ready for Pac 10 play? We'll find out tomorrow when they face USC. Team Trojan looks like an improved team, and is coming off a nice win against Wichita State, who came in ranked #8 in the nation. This has been their only impressive game of the season, however. Much like UW, they have played a fairly cupcake preseason, and only have one impressive win.

This team is not without troubles. They lost their starting point guard Ryan Francis when he was shot down last May. All Pac 10 player Gabe Pruitt is just coming back after missing all fall because he was academically ineligible.

Strengths:
USC has a talented freshman post player in Taj Gibson (who has had freak games including an 18 rebound performance and an 11 turnover game). He is RAW, but has some nice skills and is a good rebounder.

Wing players. Lodrick Stewart, Nick Young, Gabe Pruitt, Daniel Hackett and Dwight Lewis are all in the 6'4" to 6'6", 190 to 210 pound range. None of them are truly point guards, but they can all slash and play decent D.

Team Defense. Currently holding opponents to under 40% from the field. That's good. Partially a result of having no rotation player under 6'4".

Weakness:
Ball Handling. They don't have a real point guard on the team, and are currently averaging 19 turnovers per game. Wichita State was the first game they did a good job of taking care of the basketball and they won. The game before, against Kansas State, they had 27 turns and lost.

3 Point Shooting. They only take about 10 threes a game and make 36% of them. Not a horrible percentage, but a reluctance to take outside shots could make it tough for them to make up a large deficit. UW is making a similar percentage, but takes around 19 threes per game.

Size in the post. While they have fantastic "long length" on the perimeter, JuCo Transfer Abdoulaye N'diaye is their only player that weighs more than 215 pounds. He weighs 230. To put that in perspective, Hans Gasser, a player who has always lacked "size" weighs 230.

Keys to the game:
1. Will the Huskies start slow? This has been a problem for the dogs this year. It's a lot harder to play out of a hole on the road, especially in what will surely be a hostile environment.

2. How much will Brockman and Hawes dominate? Another 40 and 20 from this duo will make things tough for the Trojans. USC should have a lot of trouble keeping these two off the offensive boards.

3. Can our smaller guards contend with the USC's big back court? Will Appleby and Dentmon be liabilities on the defensive end against bigger players? Our guards need to hit open threes after USC is forced to double team the post.

4. Which team turns it over the most? Both teams struggle with this. If one team can reign it in for a game, it could be trouble for the opposition.

Prediction: Huskies win a close one, 83-77.